Spy School

 

February 20, 2025

The Undercover School

This Review contains spoilers about the book Spy School.

Dear readers, 

            Spy School by Stuart Gibbs is the perfect opener for the 12 book long series. Stuart Gibbs expertly crafted this story to tell the crazy first adventure of Benjamin Ripley. The fast paced, action packed story will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Spy School has sold over 3 million copies since its release in 2012. Its overall rating is 4.8 out of 5. This story is so good because it is a mix of an action and adventure story, mystery story, and a realistic fiction novel. Stuart Gibbs made this book a great opener for the so far 12 book series.

The main plot of the story is that Ben was invited to join the Academy of Espionage. His job was to find a mole in the organization. He made friends named Zoe Zibbel, Murray Hill and Warren Reeves. He also meets Erica Hale, a descendant of the original spy Nathan Hale, the best spy at the school. Erica insists that friends are a liability, but she still worked with Ben to find the mole. There are also bullies like Chip Schacter who try to get in Ben’s way. Eventually they find the mole.

The theme of the story is friendship, even with some betrayal. Ben would not have been able to find the mole without his friends. Erica was a major help because her combat skills came in handy whenever they were in a tough situation. Zoe was also a major help and unlike Erica a team player. And Warren was a master in camouflage. Together they were an unstoppable team that was used to track down the mole.

Now if you have not read the book I suggest you skip over this part or stop reading my review. The antagonist or the mole was Murray Hill. He was sent to the academy by SPYDER, an evil organization that causes chaos and tries to take over the world. He was sent there to steal a computer app called Pinwheel which was not a real thing but it was said to have the power to control any device in the world. The reason Ben was a big part of this is because the CIA edited Ben’s file so it said he created Pinwheel. So on Ben’s first night at the academy Murray tried to assassinate him. Ben stopped Murray but did not know who tried to kill him. Then, Murray set a bomb under the school to try and finish the whole school off. 

Ben and Erica were working together to stop Murray from succeeding in his evil plans. Murray had used Ben’s clock as the count down timer so it would look like Ben was the culprit. There was one flaw. Ben remembered that his clock did not work well, so when Ben hit the clock the clock stopped working. Then Erica woke up and was able to defuse the bomb.

I would give this story 7 out of 10 magnifying glasses because it kept you on the edge of your seat. The one thing that made it imperfect was that it was an opener and it took some time to ease into the story. I recommend this book for ages 7 to 15 because it has some good humor and is family friendly.

 

Sincerely,

Oliver Lopez